We are going to try and build one of the houses from the "Free House Plans" site but would prefer to use round pillars/columns rather than the square ones specified in the engineering diagrams. We think they look nicer, more natural, and would be less prone to damage (chipped corners).

Can any of the more thechnical astute readers (structural engineering type) indicate if this could be easily changed - as long as the cross-sectional area remains the same? Would this require the plans being revised or could we just agree it with the builder? As the free plans are provided in PDF we do not have access to the original drawings so they can not be easily ammended

ningnong

"Life is what happens while you are making other plans." John Lennon (1940 - 1980)

The columns could be built as in the plans but when it comes to the finishing all they have to do is build a circle of red bricks around the column instead of a square and render it. Should be no big deal.

The complete picture story of our house build can be found here--My Gallery!

BKKBILL wrote:You should have a look at gadgetman’s Building a new home with pool and sauna. He used concrete pipes for forms and it seems to have gone well..

You can perfectly easily use concrete pipes as BKKBILL, suggests. See here: http://coolthaihouse.com/cthpics/displa ... m=6&pos=24. You don't need to change the drawings unless the builder is completely stupid and doesn't understand a simple sketch. It also works out much, much cheaper than using form wood for column boxes, and is also far less labour intensive.Standard square section concrete comums are usually 20 x 20, that's a X-section of 0.04 m2. Concrete pipes come in various diameters, get the ones that most closely have the similar x-section area of the square columns that are specified on the drawings.

Thanks to you all for your responses. That was the answer we were hoping for .

Jazzman, your pictures show exactly what we want - I particularly like the capitals, they finish it off nicely. Are they readily available for common pipe sizes? Presumably they are one piece and need to be fitted at the time, or do they come in two halves and can be retro-fitted?

ningnong

"Life is what happens while you are making other plans." John Lennon (1940 - 1980)

The capitals and/or bases are available for most pipe diameters. They can be installed in one piece with the pipe prior to the filling with concrete, or they can be cut in half and retro fitted. I have done both. Be careful not to get ripped off on the price. They are worth about 50 - 100 baht each for the 8" to 10" ones, and that is cheap enough to buy several different ones and experiment with what looks nicest. The hole canalso be widened to allow for the full diameter of the concrete column. See: http://coolthaihouse.com/cthpics/displa ... fullsize=1The ones in the pictures did not go round the columns, but were actually fitted below and above them. The columns in the photo are 8" dia.